Glasgow 2014: Varnish struck by cycling strength

RORY DOLLARD

Jessica Varnish has warned there will be no “face” of British cycling emerging from the Commonwealth Games, with the overall standard too high for one or two superstars to dominate.

The Games in Glasgow mark the first major multi-sport event for track cycling since London 2012, when Great Britain’s most successful male and female Olympians – Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton – made their swansongs. Six-times Olympic champion Hoy was briefly tempted to compete in the velodrome that bears his name, while Pendleton gladly stepped aside after an emotionally draining time in London.

Jess Varnish has been starstruck by the abundance of talent in the home nations. Picture: Getty

Both riders gained a level of celebrity and public recognition that transcended the traditional parameters of their sport, but Varnish – Pendleton’s former team sprint partner – believes the range of talent on show will prevent others making the same leap.

“I think track cycling has changed in the last few years and I think there’s so much more depth now,” she said.

“Obviously we had Vicky and Chris in the past and for so long they were the faces of cycling. They probably always will be, and I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t, given what they’ve achieved, but British cycling has grown massively and it’s not just about one or two people now. There’s so many more people involved at a high level.”

Varnish will go up against Pendleton’s great Australian nemesis Anna Meares – who won their last-ever duel in the individual sprint in London – but is not focused on taking over that rivalry.

“I’m not just thinking about one person because the track has grown quite a lot since then - it’s not just two girls going head-to-head all the time,” said Varnish. “They were racing each other for a very long time so they developed that rivalry. Now there’s so many other girls.”

Although Varnish does not expect anyone to inherit the mantles of Hoy and Pendleton, there is no shortage of star power on show in Glasgow.

Hoy’s fellow knight, Sir Bradley Wiggins, is in action today as he returns to team pursuit duty with Team England colleagues Ed Clancy, Steven Burke and Andy Tennant.

The 2012 Tour de France winner, controversially overlooked by Team Sky this year, will be a huge draw as he makes his return to the track and will be hoping he can help improve on the team’s disappointing performance at the world championships, where they failed to qualify for the final.

In the men’s sprint division, triple- Olympic champion Jason Kenny and London team gold medallist Philip Hindes lead the English challenge, with Scotland’s Callum Skinner and Wales’ Lewis Oliva also going up against the likes of New Zealand’s world champions Ethan Mitchell and Sam Webster.

For Kenny, it represents a chance to complete a hat-trick of major titles, having already succeeded on the world and Olympic stage.

His partner Laura Trott, one of the breakout stars of London 2012, is looking to achieve the same hat-trick and will be fighting on three fronts as she tackles the individual pursuit, scratch and points races.

The individual pursuit pits her against London 2012 team-mates Dani King and Joanna Rowsell, with Scotland’s Katie Archibald and Wales’ Elinor Barker also in play from within the ranks of British Cycling.

The Commonwealth programme also offers the chance for para-athletes to share the stage in the form of four tandem events – two each for men and women.

Sophie Thornhill, a visually impaired 18-year-old who will ride with pilot Helen Scott, is enthused about the prospect of showcasing her skills on the big stage. “As tandem riders we are the sole representatives of para-cycling at these Games and it’s a massive thing to get the word out and show how exciting our sport is,” she said. “Hopefully, it will be a success and help us get into more able-bodied programmes.”

With a total of 17 medal events in four days, there promises to be no let-up in the drama, with Northern Ireland flag-bearer Martyn Irvine one of his country’s biggest prospects, Australia looking to hang on to the dominance they exerted four years ago in Delhi and New Zealand aiming to end a 12-year gold drought.

Whatever unfolds, the action should inspire a new generation of fans, with Kenny admitting the 2002 Games in Manchester were the key to his involvement in competitive cycling.

“I wouldn’t be here today without the Commonwealth Games,” he said. “I’m only here because of the velodrome in Manchester and that was only built as part of their bid. I wouldn’t be cycling right now without that building.”

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice.
If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the
Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the IPSO by
clicking here.

The Scotsman provides news, events and sport features from the Edinburgh area. For the best up to date information relating to Edinburgh and the surrounding areas visit us at The Scotsman regularly or bookmark this page.

For you to enjoy all the features of this website The Scotsman requires permission to use cookies.

Find Out More ▼

What is a Cookie?

What is a Flash Cookie?

Can I opt out of receiving Cookies?

About our Cookies

Cookies are small data files which are sent to your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc) from a website you visit. They are stored on your electronic device.

This is a type of cookie which is collected by Adobe Flash media player (it is also called a Local Shared Object) - a piece of software you may already have on your electronic device to help you watch online videos and listen to podcasts.

Yes there are a number of options available, you can set your browser either to reject all cookies, to allow only "trusted" sites to set them, or to only accept them from the site you are currently on.

However, please note - if you block/delete all cookies, some features of our websites, such as remembering your login details, or the site branding for your local newspaper may not function as a result.

The types of cookies we, our ad network and technology partners use are listed below:

Revenue Science ►

A tool used by some of our advertisers to target adverts to you based on pages you have visited in the past. To opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Google Ads ►

Our sites contain advertising from Google; these use cookies to ensure you get adverts relevant to you. You can tailor the type of ads you receive by visiting here or to opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Digital Analytics ►

This is used to help us identify unique visitors to our websites. This data is anonymous and we cannot use this to uniquely identify individuals and their usage of the sites.

Dart for Publishers ►

This comes from our ad serving technology and is used to track how many times you have seen a particular ad on our sites, so that you don't just see one advert but an even spread. This information is not used by us for any other type of audience recording or monitoring.

ComScore ►

ComScore monitor and externally verify our site traffic data for use within the advertising industry. Any data collected is anonymous statistical data and cannot be traced back to an individual.

Local Targeting ►

Our Classified websites (Photos, Motors, Jobs and Property Today) use cookies to ensure you get the correct local newspaper branding and content when you visit them. These cookies store no personally identifiable information.

Grapeshot ►

We use Grapeshot as a contextual targeting technology, allowing us to create custom groups of stories outside out of our usual site navigation. Grapeshot stores the categories of story you have been exposed to. Their privacy policy and opt out option can be accessed here.

Subscriptions Online ►

Our partner for Newspaper subscriptions online stores data from the forms you complete in these to increase the usability of the site and enhance user experience.

Add This ►

Add This provides the social networking widget found in many of our pages. This widget gives you the tools to bookmark our websites, blog, share, tweet and email our content to a friend.